Elizabeth Davies: Companies should offer more help to electronic users

Tuesday

Mar 25, 2008 at 12:01 AM

I might be a member of Generation X, but I’m a tech dummy.

Elizabeth Davies

WANTED: Live-in tech support. Must be able to filter spam, load iTunes, crop pictures, edit video and create cute message board signatures. Candidates must speak English (i.e. check the computer lingo at the door) and will start the job with the full understanding that the boss is an idiot. It will not be necessary to remind her of that on a regular basis by using words like “megabytes” and “program defaults.”
Interested applicants should apply in person or via snail mail, as there are no promises that an e-mail or voice message won’t be deleted on accident, never to be found again.

I might be a member of Generation X, but I’m a tech dummy.

There are many things we are capable of doing at my house: My husband can fix almost any car problem and take on a range of do-it-yourself projects. I can decorate a mean birthday cake or host a dinner party for eight without breaking a sweat. But ask us to edit the red eye out of a picture, and we’re in over our heads.

In the year since we bought a digital camcorder, both of us have been letting the video pile up as we’ve put off trying to wade through the editing software to put it on DVD.

We went from pregnancy to birth, from newborn wails to toddler babbles. And now, with a burping hard drive and even more precious memories to record, the task is too big to ignore.

I recently hired a baby sitter for the day for the sole purpose of having enough peace and quiet to decipher the instruction manual. Five minutes in, I came across this realization: I wasn’t looking at an instruction manual. I was reading the doctoral thesis of a Harvard Ph.D. student.

So I headed for the friendly company Web site, where my eyes immediately glassed over when I found the how-to section. I saw “launch” and “installation” and “menu behavior.” This is not a language I speak. I use words like “lunch” and “interior design” and “room service menu.”

I don’t understand why tech companies insist on making basic electronics so difficult to use.

They want us to buy their products, so Business 101 should have taught them to keep it easy.

Of course, it doesn’t help to call a friend who is a tech junkie. These guys get a kick out of seeing someone flounder with something so simple as a megapixel. They proceed to throw big, computer-y words into the conversation, which is dotted with exaggerated sighs to prove just how patient they are when confronted with someone so daft.

Some eight hours later — yes, I actually spent eight hours on this — I gave in and went to call customer support. I needed to have an actual conversation with an actual person who might break it down into real people’s terms. And that’s when I learned that it actually costs $29.95 to call customer support.

Forget the video. I’ll just wait until my kid is old enough to figure it out for me.
He should be there by kindergarten.